The Momentum for Research on Mental Health in the Workplace in Canada

Abstract

As mental health finally seems to be emerging from the shadows with the Kirby-Keon Canadian Senate Committee (Standing Senate Committee on Social Affairs, Science and Technology, 2006), we must recognize that the awareness of the magnitude of the problem and its possible solutions come from various sectors of society; nowhere is this more evident than in the workplace. When the CEOs of the largest banks and their Bay Street partners meet for half a day to learn about mental health in the workplace and at the end of the session unanimously recognize the need for corporate leadership in addressing the issue, and when editorialists from four national newspapers, whose political ideologies cover the spectrum, also endorse the notion that mental health represents one of the key Canadian societal challenges of the decade, we have sure political and sociological signs that a cultural shift is taking place.